MC golfer aiming at second national championship

Published 6:00 pm, Saturday, February 14, 2009

David Thomas figures if his golf game is anything like it was last year, it will be a great year at Midland College.

Few Chaparral golfers past and present can compare to what the sophomore from Dunmow Essek, U.K., accomplished at the end of the 2008 season.

Thomas not only helped the Chaparrals capture their fourth NJCAA national golf championship, he became the first Midland College golfer to win the individual medalist title with a four-round total of 290, four strokes ahead of the competition.

"I still can't believe it and I don't think it's sunk in," Thomas said. "I remember coming down for that last hole and the guys were telling me, 'You've got to two-putt for the win.' I didn't know at the time if that's what the team needed to win. That last putt was a 10-foot shot and when that last putt went in, I went 'Wow!' I was just happy that I could have won for the guys as well."

What he didn't realize at the time and what his teammates neglected to tell him was that the Chaps had about a 10-stroke lead and were in good shape to take the title even without his 1-over 73 final round.

But maybe the rest of the Chaps knew that Thomas was about to achieve something no previous Chap had done before: win the national championship as an individual. Five previous Chaps had come close with runner-up finishes: Dean Robertson (1990), Andrew Coltart (1991), Grant Thompson (1992), Derrick Pursley (1995) and Ernie Rose (2000).

"Coach (Delnor Poss) was telling me that (Chap All-Americans and current PGA professionals) Chad Campbell never did that and Kenneth Ferrie never did that," Thomas said. "You kind of look at where they are and it makes you think maybe I could be up there with them someday. I've already done something they never did and that's pretty cool."

The fact that he won the individual title probably shouldn't have been a surprise as Thomas headed to the national tournament in Huntsville, Ala., with three tournament wins, including a victory at the Western Junior College Athletic Conference Invitational. His play, along with the rest of the Chaps, has Poss believing his team had a good shot to win it all at the national tournament.

"I felt going into the national tournament we had a good opportunity to win as long as we stayed focused and paid attention to detail, which we were able to do," Poss said. "David was really focused and played the course like it was set out to be played for his individual skills."

Poss added that after consulting with Thomas and his parents, the sophomore golfer will turn pro after this year. Poss said both Robertson and Coltart made the jump after their careers at MC and both made it on the European PGA Tour.

"I think David has the skills to make it to that level," Poss said. "The thing we need to work on this spring is his decision-making process on the golf course. He takes too many chances when the risk of failure is small."

But before turning his attention to turning professional, Thomas wants to help the Chaps defend their title.

As Midland College heads into the first spring tournament with a WJCAC Invitational at San Angelo's Quicksand Golf Course today, it will look to continue where it left off last May. Also returning with Thomas are Midland High graduate Tommy Sikes and Heinrich Frylinck, two fellow players off that national championship squad, as well as the national team's sixth man and Lee grad Tyler Sheppard.

"I think we've got as good, if not better, team this year," Thomas said. "Everyone's feeling good going into the spring. We've spent three weeks doing nothing but going to classes and practicing. Now it's time to play some good golf."

Midland College Golf Notes

Head coach: Delnor Poss, 32nd year

Coach's quote: "We have really good team chemistry. They're a bunch of dedicated, hard-working players."

Notes & quotes: The Chaparrals return four players from last year's team in NJCAA All-American David Thomas, Midland High grad Tommy Sikes, Heinrich Frylinck and Lee grad Tyler Sheppard. Sikes and Frylinck just missed out on being all-Americans at the national tournament. …Sikes is a two-time winner of the Midland City Championship and won the 2007 Odessa College Fall Invitational. He has also signed with Southeastern Louisiana University. …Frylinck has five second place finishes and was the medalist at last fall's High Country Shootout. He is ranked fourth nationally with a scoring average of 70.55. …Sheppard has two top-5 finishes and two top-10 finishes in his Chap career, and carries a 3.7 GPA while taking pre-Engineering core classes. …Of the newcomers, Kyle Blackney, a redshirt last season, had three top-5 finishes in the fall; and Darryn Els, a non-scholarship player from South Africa, joined the team at the semester break and Poss said should be among the top six players. John Mark Peterson is another Lee graduate who was a two-time all-district performer and has played well in the fall, just finishing out of the top 10 in two tournaments.